In a wide-ranging interview in 2003 Loek Van Wely talked to Dutch journalist Renzo Verwer about his life. This excerpt reveals much about the pressures of playing chess at the highest level and the gamesmanship of leading players. ‘. . . Man, in those top…

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What is your earliest memory of playing chess? Discovering the brutal difference between stalemate and checkmate. What is your most memorable game? v. Ivanchuk, Terrassa 1991. Zugzwang occurred on an almost full board. What was your worst defeat? v. Tiviakov, PCA Interzonal, Groningen 1993. My…

Moldovan grandmaster Victor (Viorel) Bologan was born on 14 December 1971. His dynamic style has brought him numerous tournament victories including Dortmund 2003 (ahead of Kramnik, Anand and Leko), the Aeroflot Open (also 2003) and the Canadian Open (2005) and (with Zahar Efimenko) the…

India’s latest star reveals the secrets of his preparation Ever heard of Dilip Patel? Maybe not, but it’s guaranteed you will soon. 38-year-old Patel burst onto the scene with a bang recently, coming from nowhere to threaten the ranks of the Super GMs with a…

Lev Khariton The attractive countryside of Meudon is a 15-minute train ride from Paris. Here I came to interview Boris Spassky just three days before his 60th birthday. He reminiscences about his life, his chess career, his rivals and friends. Dear Grandmaster, I should…

Andy Lewis A common Arimaa starting position Anyone for a variation on chess? Is chess played out? This concern has been voiced periodically over the history of the game, and the challenges has never been more profound: over-refinement of opening-theory; perfection of endgame technique;…

Sarah Hurst was a regular contributor to CHESS magazine in the 1990s and also edited the British Chess Federation’s newsletter, ChessMoves. Her fine book Curse of Kirsan: Adventures in the Chess Underworld is now available on Kindle at a bargain price. Since 2002 she has been translating…

Why Life Does Not Imitate Chess Part 3: The Visionary Followers of Garry Kasparov on Facebook will have noted that he has taken to styling himself as a ‘politician’. What’s his track record? All chess players will know about his campaign for FIDE president…

This Armageddon-style knockout tournament will take place amid the splendour of the Vladimir Putin Memorial Tearoom, St Petersburg. Play will begin on Christmas Day and continue until one player is left standing. He will be declared the winner and carry off the Prince Salman Bone-saw…

Chess and Early Cold War Propaganda Chess, like many sports, has been used as a political instrument. Files recently released by the National Archives reveal how the Soviet Union exploited chess for propaganda during the early years of the Cold War (1953–1960). In December 1953,…